


Puzzle It Out

by violasarecool



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Temple of Mythal, not canon to wc8gwd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 00:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13775895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: au where we pretend it's not a horrible idea to have a warden anywhere near corypheus and let quentin do some puzzles





	Puzzle It Out

The temple to Mythal was full of incredible, beautiful architecture and statues. Greenery wound its way around intricately carved pillars, sunlight dappling mossy stone. However, some things were as frustrating as they were beautiful: there were also strange patterned tiles and elven inscriptions that, frankly, made no sense, even with Solas's translation. "This looks more complicated than the first one," Val said, frowning at the tiles spread around leaf-covered statues. "It's almost like a puzzle."

Quentin walked around the stone railings, staring at the tiles. "I love puzzles," he said, looking at Val. "May I?"

Val nodded.

Quentin made his way back around to the steps, then stopped on the first tile. His face lit up with a blue-tinted smile, the tile glowing beneath him. "Alright," he said, walking around the tiled path. "If we're _walking their path_ , I'm fairly certain we're supposed to hit all the tiles." He stepped to one side to hit the tiles in the corner. Ahead, the path opened up into a larger section, and he frowned, climbed up onto the stone pedestal, inching around to take a look at the tiles on the far side. "Oh," he muttered, stepping back down onto the untiled stone in the middle, "got you."

He made to step back, onto a _lit tile—_ "Quentin," Morrigan said, eyebrows raising, but he had already stepped down, and now the entire puzzle faded back into darkness. "And now we must start all over again," Morrigan said dryly.

"We?" Quentin asked, a mischievous smile on his face. "I think I'm the one putting in most of the work here."

"All of it," Val agreed, "and we really appreciate it. This is _definitely_ not my thing."

Quentin stepped back onto the tiled surface, blue lighting his slender frame once more. "It's not that hard, really." He began walking forwards, glancing left and right. "Well, this one's a little misleading—you have to start in the middle. You have to fail before you can get it right," he said, looking at Morrigan, who smiled and shook her head. "We used to do these kinds of puzzles in the Circle _all the time_ when we had nothing to do. Children's games, really."

"Children like to do this?" Cole asked, eyes wide as he watched Quentin walk around the stone statues and back towards them.

"Sure," Quentin said, as he stepped back onto the untiled surface, crossing over to examine the metal lever.

"Feet tapping, pencil scratching, slipping, stopping." Cole's voice echoed up the high domed ceiling. "Voices quiver, quiet, don't make noise, _don't make noise_ —"

There was a booming clanking noise as Quentin pulled the lever down. Cole stared at him, head tipped to one side with a frown; Quentin shrugged. He stepped back toward the tiles, mouth pressed into a resigned half-smile. "At least, this is more fun than having magical theory drilled into you," he said lightly. Solas made a disapproving sound, and Quentin gave him a sweeping look. "Solas, right? Have you ever been in a Circle?"

"Not as such."

"Mm." He glanced down at his feet, fighting the urge to cross his arms as he began pacing the tiles again. "Well, I did learn a lot there, but it's not much fun for children. You know, asshole Templars, and that."

Val smothered a laugh. "That's fair."

Quentin stepped onto the last tile, and the tiles made a humming noise as they all lit up even brighter, radiating a faint haze of wavering blue. "Shall we keep going, then?"


End file.
